Representative David Joyce (R-OH) sponsored H.R. 4367, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2024, which would spend $2 billion to expand the environmentally destructive and xenophobic southern border wall. Billions in taxpayer dollars have been spent to build hundreds of miles of unnecessary, wasteful, and harmful border wall, which has had a negligible impact on securing the border while creating more harm to communities, lands, Indigenous sites and culture, and biodiversity. Additionally, the legislation fails to invest the needed resources for communities to prepare for climate-fueled extreme weather events and underfunds the federal government’s ability to assist with recovery efforts from these tragedies, even as many communities across the country are struggling to rebuild after a summer of harmful natural disasters. H.R. 4367 also includes numerous harmful poison pill policy riders that have little to do with homeland security, such as riders barring funds for women’s and transgender healthcare services, defunding the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and eliminating a provision to protect potential sponsors of unaccompanied minors from being deported. On September 28, the House approved H.R. 4367 by a vote of 220-208 (House roll call vote 505). The Senate did not consider this legislation or any Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill in 2023.